20th G1 winner Absolutely wonderful
The week began with the announcement that champion sire Redoute’s Choice will stand this year at a figure significantly lower than his 2010 fee.
Today his 3YO daughter Absolutely demonstrated the indifference of class to price when she sailed home in the $500,000 100th AJC Australian Oaks 2400m G1 to become Redoute’s Choice’s 20th individual Group 1 winner and 73rd stakeswinner.
Pictured: Brad Rawiller steers Absolutely to her 3.5 length Oaks victory at Randwick. AJC Derby G1 winner Shamrocker was 2nd, with Pinker Pinker 3rd. (PHOTO: Bronwen Healy).
Everything about Absolutely underscores the message of quality’s endurance. She was bred by Muzaffar Yaseen’s Teeley Assets, also responsible for Redoute’s Choice himself, and is raced by Rick Jamieson, the breeder of Australia’s current racing superstar, Black Caviar.
She is a daughter of the Arrowleave Joint Venture-bred mare Catshaan, a half-sister to the recently retired champion Japanese sprinter-miler Kinshasa No Kiseki, from the family of European Group 1 winners Plumania and Groom Dancer.
Absolutely was purchased by Dermot Farrington Bloodstock for $150,000 from the Coolmore draft at the 2009 Australian Easter Yearling Sale.
Although she was a maiden before today’s emphatic victory, she had posted three placings in Melbourne & Adelaide Group races, most recently a staunch second to Lights of Heaven in the SAJC Australasian Oaks G1 on 26 March. Her record now reads one win, five placings and almost $450,000 prizemoney from 7 starts.
Catshaan is now carrying a three-quarter sibling to Absolutely, by Manhattan Rain while her daughter by End Sweep, Feather Duster, foaled a Snitzel filly in 2010 and is in foal to Flying Spur .
Redoute’s Choice currently leads the Australian General Sires’ list by stakeswinners, with 12. Japanese stakeswinner Clianthus and New Zealand Group 1 winner King’s Rose take his worldwide tally for the season to fourteen.
Absolutely is her sire’s fifth Oaks winner, after VRC Oaks G1 winners Miss Finland & Samantha Miss, and SAJC Australasian Oaks G1 winners Anamato & Gallica. In all, Redoute’s Choice is now the sire of 10 classic (Group 1 Derby, Oaks & Guineas) winners.
Redoute’s Choice stands at a fee of $137,500 inc. GST in 2011.
